Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-06-27
PACIFIC COAST.
The Imprisoned Miners
Not Yet Rescued.
A STRONG RELIEF CORPS.
Wine Merchants take up Arms to
Test the Constitution ality of
the New Wine Law.

Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD.
VIRGINIA CITY, New, June 26,-Gas
and smoke have entirely ceased issuing
from the Gould & Curry shaft, indicating
that the fire, if not entirely extiuguished
is merely smouldering in the old timbers,
caved down on the floor of the station
on the 1900 level. Cages with men were
dropped below the 1890 foot level to-day.
No attempt to extinguish the shoulder.
ing fire will be made until the men on
the l500.foot level are rescued dead or
alive. The DRIFT being run from the
Con. California and Virginia mine on the
1900 foot level to reach them is bat about
fifteen feet south OF the bottom of the
sixteen.foot wiuze sunk to the level of
the point where the men are confined
in the Best & Belcher. The ma.
terial through which they are
driving is hard porphyry, tough as
steel 1t is anticipated that connection
will be made by sometime tomorrow,
as there still remains about eighteen feet
to make connection. When the drift
is advanced few feet further q hole
ten feet long will be sent through the in.
tervening rock so that ii the men are still
alive they can be communicated with.
THE REscUING PARTY.
There are sixty picked men selected
from the most experienced miners on
the lode forming the rescuing party.
They are divided into three eight hour
shifts. Two Burleigh drills operated by
compressed air are used in working the
holes for blasting. With this force an
unprecedented speed in drilling has
been attained and if connection
is made by tomorrow morning
they will have accomplished a
feat in drilling and sinking through
hard ground never equalled IN the
annals of mining. Opinions among
miners are about equally divided in
speculating on the chances of the i'm.
prisoned men being found alive. A
stream of cool water and bountiful
supply of fresh air is being continually
sent into the mine by the powerful sur
face air compressor which is kept run
ming at such high rate OF speed that it
is necessary to keep jet of cold water
pouring on the journals to keep them
from heating. The air and water sent
into the mine is forced through four
inch wrought iron pipe extending into
the face of the drift. As this pipe was
not broken off by the caving of the
shaft timbers there is a strong proba.
bility that the men. imprisoned on the
= 500 500 seeee5tt 10. .. 80. 80 found alive.
NIL DEsPERANDuN.
The fact that they give no sign of
vitality by signaling to their rescuers is
not considered positive evidence of their
being dead. They know that every
effort to reach them is being made and
as they are experienced miners they
know that in order to survive until res
cued they must take every precau,ion
against decreasing their vitality by ex-
haustng their strength in giving signals.
In this they are pursuing the same tao
tics as did the miners imprisoned on the
2400.foot level in the Alta. These were
confined in a drift for four days, but
after the first twenty-fou hours no sig
nails were given by them and all hopes
of rescuing them alive were abandoned.
FUNERALS OF THE VICTIMS.
TIE funerals of four of the victims of
the disaster took place this afternoon,
and were largely attended. The process
sion to the meeting was headed by 700
miners on foot. A relief committee to
raise funds for the families of the victims
of the fire was organized last evening by
most of the prominent residents of Storey
county. kilograms from towns in all
parts of the State have been received,
announcing that steps had beon taken
for raising money for the same obi ect.